Craig's ADHD Story
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2015 at the age of 36. My wife noticed that I exhibited the symptoms and tried to get me to talk to my doctor about it, but I didn't feel like that made any sense. If I had ADHD, then what was I supposed to do about it? Surely I am who I am.
Eventually, relationship challenges overwhelmed me, and I spoke to my doctor because I was desperate for solutions. My doctor confirmed that my symptoms were typical of ADHD but said that a diagnosis would require more testing. A specialized clinic in Toronto confirmed our suspicions and started working with me on treatment. YES! There was treatment!
The clinic and I started exploring a regimen of medication, coaching, and daily exercise. My struggles with organization, focus, impulsivity, and memory were turned on their head. While these challenges have waxed and waned over the years, the message is that there is hope.
My background is in coaching sales and management personnel, but my move to Barrie presented an opportunity for change. Having transformed my life primarily through coaching, I wanted to give back in the same way. I now practice as an ADHD coach to help you find your way back to hope.
#MidLifeDiagnosis #Business #InattentiveADHD #Depression #Anxiety
I am in Barrie. I can help. I am: $95/hour - video call | $130/hour - in person
Bari's ADHD Story
I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 53. My journey of self-discovery was not an easy one. For most of my life, I struggled with being unable to follow through on plans and found it difficult to concentrate on anything for an extended period of time. I felt like my mind was a chaotic whirlwind of thoughts, and anxiety often got in my way of accomplishing my goals. It wasn’t until I started training to become an ADHD Life Coach and learning how ADHD affects the brain, that I realized I had been living with the same condition as my son who was diagnosed at the age of 9 back in 2013.
ADHD affects me in many ways, such as constantly forgetting things, feelings of anxiety and depression, having difficulty starting, switching, or sticking to one task and hyper-focusing on something and then losing interest easily.
Sleep problems are common for me, and daily activities can be a challenge to remember. Low self-esteem and chronic underachievement are things I deal with regularly and I often feel like a failure. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out why I am so different. Despite these challenges, I am determined to manage my ADHD symptoms and succeed in life.
As an ADHD Coach, my goal is to help my clients appreciate their neuro-diverse brains and use them to their advantage. I understand that individuals with ADHD can have difficulties in every are of their life and I am dedicated to providing the support and guidance they need to move forward. My approach to coaching is compassionate, supportive, and action-oriented, helping my clients break through the barriers that hold them back.
I believe that everyone has the potential to achieve their goals and live a fulfilling life, I encourage my clients to stop standing in their own way and start living. With my knowledge and expertise, I am changing lives, one client at a time.
#ParentofADHDchild #NewYorkCity #LateDiagnosis #ActionPlan #ExecutiveFunction #Anxiety #InattentiveADHD
I am in New York City. I can help. I am $80/hour video call | $120/hour in-person
Isabella's ADHD Story
I was diagnosed after my eldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD. My youngest daughter was diagnosed before us with autism. I noticed that I was a lot like both of my kids which led me to realize that I must be neurodivergent too.
I have an inattentive presentation of ADHD. The struggles I have faced with ADHD have impacted my employment, career, and motherhood. Masking and people-pleasing were huge challenges that took a lot out of me. Procrastination and distraction created ongoing turmoil in my career. While I have maintained a position in teaching over the years, I have also moved from vocation to vocation as I constantly looked for new and interesting things. I started out with a burning passion for hospitality, I have studied tourism, and later on, I spent time in sales. On top of that, I was on a constant search for my next dopamine rush, moving to yet another continent and learning foreign languages.
I dealt with all of this, meanwhile facing the challenges of being a busy single mother and living with the comorbidities that come from my ADHD. Though I have always been told that I am very bright, I stood out for being disorganized and distracted. I got tired of hearing I should "just try harder" and decided to work with my ADHD and not against it.
I came to coaching while searching for a coach for my daughter. I wanted someone she could relate to and talk to openly, someone that would not judge her and would understand her needs and struggles. I wanted to provide her with the tools I had not been provided in my own childhood. This search lead me to the ADD Coach Academy (ADDCA), the school that had wonderful reviews and that all the coaches I liked came from. At that precise moment, I decided to be a coach, to help not just my daughter but all of the people that needed help with ADHD.
Having now studied coaching through ADDCA, I realize how many people are alone with their struggles and how long the waiting lists for a good coach are.
#SingleMom #German #Spanish #Polish #English #Business #Autism
I am in Panama City. I can help. I am: $80/hour video call | $115/hour in-person
Kelly's ADHD Story
I was diagnosed with ADHD in February of 2020, right before all this COVID craziness descended upon us.
What led to my getting tested was a math class. I’ve never been particularly fond of math. I was having a hard time in this class. Now, I work in Human Resources, so I knew that I could get an accommodation. I just wasn’t sure what the process was.
After inquiring with the school and my advisor I was sent to a school psychologist who spent most of an afternoon testing me. After what seemed like forever; she looks up from my results and says “Well, you do have a math disability. It’s called dyscalculia. But you also have ADHD”. That diagnosis was the scariest and yet most wonderful news I have ever heard.
I have combined ADHD. That is, I am inattentive, but I also have a hyper side where I run around doing a million things at once and trying to convince myself I’m accomplishing something. You know how that all goes, right?
I work as a Human Resources Administrator, and since being diagnosed it’s like the lights have come on. I still struggled with organization, paying attention, and focusing on my work. In January of 2022, I signed up with an ADHD coach. I couldn’t believe the difference it made in my everyday life. Through my coach I learned about ADDCA – The ADD Coaching Academy. I’m finishing up my professional coaching certification at ADDCA. I am also a student at the University of Central Florida where I am working towards completing my bachelor’s degree in Organizational and Industrial psychology. I am determined to use my Human Resources role to advocate and give ADHD a voice within the workplace.
Life can still be a struggle some days. I love to run and be in nature. This helps me focus. I also lean on my faith, and... enjoy raising chickens. I have about twenty-five hens and two roosters. Oh, and two sweet cats. My love for all these things keeps me going.
I would love to be a support for you as you discover just what a masterpiece you are. It’s worth the time and the effort, and once you discover just how your brain works, watch out – there is no stopping you!
#Discalculia #HR #CombinedADHD #Faith
Belle's ADHD Story
I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2017; I was in my eleventh-grade year at high school. I had been referred to a psychiatrist through my family doctor for concerns about depression, not ADHD. However, I only had a couple of sessions with the psychiatrist before he told me that he thought I had ADHD. He said it very casually, as if it was so obvious that I should already know.
The diagnosis didn't really click with me at first. I had never even considered that I could have ADHD. When I thought about ADHD, I pictured young, energetic boys who couldn't sit still in class and got terrible grades. I always got excellent grades (except sometimes in gym and French), I loved to read, and I'd been working at the same job for more than a year. I only started to put the puzzle together once I did some research on my own. I learned about inattentive and combination presentations of ADHD. I began to connect it to my life and realize how often I'd leave things around, or lose track of the time, or pick up a new hobby and forget about it after a week. Still, though, I didn't do very much about it. It felt more like a personality type, a label - like the Myers-Briggs test - than something to worry about.
The diagnosis festered until a family member who also had ADHD began to talk to me about their experiences. I started to realize how much of an impact my ADHD was having on my life. I was getting good grades because my brain would send me into overdrive the night before something was due. I was constantly late, even when I tried my hardest to be early, because I was experiencing time blindness. I described myself as "an open book" because I had no filter in conversations, not because I was just really trusting. Everything snowballed from there. I sought out specialized ADHD treatment and began taking medication. By being kind to myself, focusing on realistic goals, and working with my ADHD rather than resisting it, I've become a successful university student. Some days are harder, longer, and sadder than others, but I discovered a special, unbreakable faith in myself and my abilities.
As a coach, I work with anyone, but especially teenagers and young adults who are struggling, like I was, in this very transitional time in life. I'm passionate about showing you what you can do if you believe in yourself. My background includes twenty hours of coach training with the Coaches Training Institute, and many more hours of experience as a coachee myself.
#Student #HighSchoolDiagnosis #InattentiveADHD #Depression
